Safety belt for infants



Oct. 25, 1949. T. CATALDO SAFETY BELT FOR INFANTS Filed Dec. 30, 1947 'li'wezfior: 72/?556 647-4400 by an, an." 6a,

flifioa may Patented Oct. 25, 1949 UBN PATEN '51 '0 F F l-CE iBELT FOR Teresa Cataldo, Boston, Mass.

Application December 30, 1947, Serial No. 794,503

covered by the bedclothes so as to be smothered thereby. At the-same time "the baby is prevented f-rom crawling or falling out -of the crib .or bed.

Smothering accidents :are altogether too common with small babies and are one of the greatest accident hazards with which parents have to contend. Attempts have been made previously to devise such safety belts, but they have not been suucessful and have met with disfavor, and have even been known to cause the very accident they have been designed to prevent when an infant has gotten tangled up in the belt. I have, however, designed a safety belt which overcomes the defects and disadvantages of previous devices of this nature, particularly in eliminating shoulder straps entirely and which has several additional advantages of its own.

Briefly my device consists of a band of flexible material (preferably oil-treated fabric) having a pair of tie straps at the ends thereof, which band preferably lies cross-wise under the waist of the baby and is stretched flat across the crib or bed with its ends tied to the sides thereof. Stitched or otherwise connected to the top edge of the band at its mid-portion is a strip of flexible material extending downwardly at right angles to the band, under the buttocks of the baby, and having a free end which is turned up and back between the legs of the baby, and attached at its free end to a second set of straps constituting a belt having buttons or other suitable fastening means thereon and attached to the band adjacent their point of connection. The strip when turned back thus provides side openings through which the legs of the baby extend. Thus the baby is held down on the bed or crib at his waist, and cannot push himself down under the bedclothes, and any attempts to turn over on his abdomen are resisted by the strip which is held fixed at its top edge to the band, if the baby succeeds in turnin over on its abdomen, there are no shoulder straps to become twisted about his'neck and to choke him. A baby who has strength enough to turn over on its abdomen will ordinarily be strong enough to prevent himself from smothering while lying on his abdomen, if he does not get entangled in shoulder straps.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of 2 consruotion and arrangement of .partsillustramd in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of Th ing practiced -or.-carried.out sin yarious ways. ,Also it is to be understood :that :the phraseolo y Q terminology employed herein iS :for the 'ltill pififi :of description and not of :limitaztion, land it is not sintended -to limit the invention {cla med herein beyond the requirements of the prior art, and the claim.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of my device in open position;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of my device in its closed position;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on lines 33 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings I0 represents a broad flat band of flexible material, which is preferably oil-treated nylon fabric, extending laterally from the ends of which are a pair of ties I I, provided for tying the band flat across the mattress, crib or bed to the sides of the crib or bed. Stitched or otherwise marginally connected, to the band I0 preferably at the top edge thereof and at right angles thereto, is a rectangular strip I2 of similar flexible material. The free end of the strip I2 preferably has cut out portions indicated at I3 on each side thereof and buttonholes or other fastening means as shown at I4. A pair of straps I5 which constitute a belt are provided for fastening around the waist of the baby, with buttons IE or other attaching means thereon are secured to the band I0 preferably at the top edge thereof at either side of the second strip I2 and where the latter joins the band II). A series of buttons I6 or othe attaching means is preferably provided on the straps I5 to provide adjustment in the circumference of the waist band provided by the straps I5.

In operation the band I0 is stretched flat across the crib or bed and the ends I I tied to the sides thereof to hold the band Ill down. The baby is then laid on its buttocks on the strip l2,

- and the free end of the strip I2 is then pulled up in back between the legs of the baby and the free end is then attached to the straps I5. The strip I2 when turned back thus provides side openings through which the legs of the baby extend and the cut-out portions I3 of the strip I2 provide additional room therefor. Since the strip I2 is attached to the band II), which in turn is tied down onto the bed, the baby, of course, likewise is tied to the bed, but is given a. large degree of freedom of movement up and down and which are locatedbelo'w the babys waist.

It will be obvious that the button hole [4 or other fastening means at each corner of the end of the strip is connected to one of the buttons IS on its complemental waist strap IE to adjustably secure the waist straps in overlapped posi-,- tion on the infant. r

It will be obvious, of course, that my safety belt may be used in other ways and for other purposes, such as on the bathinette to keep the infant from falling off. My device may similarly be used in an infants bassinet or carriage.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a safety belt by which infants may be tied in a crib, bed or other other object, but which has no shoulder straps in which the infant may get entangled around his neck, and is also prevented from getting under the bed clothes so as to be smothered thereby.

I claim:

An infants safety belt, comprising a band of flexible material having a tie at each end thereof, a rectangular strip of flexible material having one end marginally attached to the mid-portion of said band and adapted to extend at right angles downwardly and under the buttocks of the infant with its free end adapted to be passed up between the legs of the infant, said strip being approximately the width of the hips of the infant and having cut out portions at the legengaging sides of the strip, a pair of waist straps each secured at one end to the band at opposite sides of the connection of the strip therewith and adapted to overlap across the waist of the infant, a series of fastening means on each waist strap, and means for attaching each corner of the free end of the strip to one of the series of fastening means on its complemental waist strap to adjustably secure the waist straps in position on the infant.

TERESA CATALDO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name' Date 1,348,818 MacCallum Aug. 3, 1920 1,923,809 Bates Aug. 22, 1933 2,102,281 Pringle Dec. 14, 1937 2,170,703 Waxman Aug. 22, 1939 2,456,898 Strandhagen Dec. 21, 1948 

